Until I reached his face.
He wasn’t wearing his helmet, thankfully. I could see Reece’s honest face, his weary eyes, and all the scars decorating them. He looked like he’d been through the wringer.
I crawled out from my pathetic hiding place and stood in front of him. “What happened to you?” My hand instinctively went up to his cheek, wanting to take the damage away.
He winced but didn’t pull away. “I got caught up in an altercation. I’m sorry I was gone for so long.”
“What kind of altercation? What happened?” Seeing him in this state was terrifying. I was worried for him, his injuries had to be painful. He didn’t deserve that.
“One of my superiors had a problem with me,” he explained, still holding back with the details. “I’m fine. I snuck out of the hospital and—”
“You were in the hospital?”
“Yeah, but—”
“You shouldn’t have left if you need medical attention,” I insisted. He shouldn’t have left hospital just to return to me. I would have waited, I knew he would eventually come for me.
Reece shrugged and even that small movement cost him. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Look, Wren, I couldn’t leave you here alone,” Reece said. “I’ll heal, everything will be fine.”
The bleeding cut on his temple was telling me a different story. “At least let me help you,” I sighed.
He didn’t protest so I took that as my signal. Pulling him into the room, I pushed him onto the chair and assessed what needed the most attention. Growing up in the Defective camp, I’d learned a few first aid tricks from Sunny. First aid always came in handy amongst the Defectives, especially considering doctors didn’t want to have anything to do with us.
“Did they get you anywhere else besides your face?” I asked.
“I’ve got a few broken ribs,” Reece admitted.
“Take your shirt off then. I’ll need to make sure there is no bleeding.”
Reece and I locked eyes for a moment just as I realized what I’d asked of him. I’d told him to strip off half his clothing, show me the bare skin underneath. I blushed, feeling the warmth covering my cheeks.
After a moment Reece pulled his protective vest from around him and then took off the T-shirt underneath. He still held the items of clothing in his hand while I assessed his injuries.
His chest was distracting. Rippled with muscles and perfectly defined, he was an excellent specimen of a human. The heat from my cheeks rushed through the rest of me as I averted my eyes. Looking at Reece’s naked chest felt like looking at the sun. If I stared too long I was going to go blind.
His skin was covered with bruises, in a rainbow of colors from blues to purples. He had taken a severe beating, he couldn’t keep that from me when the tangible proof was written all over his chest.
The good news was that nothing appeared to be bleeding. His bruises were tissue damage, not pools of vast amounts of blood underneath his skin. His organs might be still damaged, hidden in his body, but there was nothing I could actually see.
“Did the hospital at least check you over before you ran away?” I asked, trying and failing to keep the annoyance out of my voice. I wasn’t entirely sure why his blatant disregard for his wellbeing bothered me so much but it did.
“They looked over me before putting me in a bed. The doc said I had a mild concussion and needed to rest. They were only going to keep me in for observation.”
I guessed that wasn’t so bad. I could observe Reece myself, make him go back to the hospital at the first sign of trouble. As long as he told me the truth about how he was feeling, I could probably ensure he didn’t die on my watch.
I couldn’t lose another one.
“Can I put my shirt back on?” Reece asked. I had been caught staring again. I nodded and stepped back, putting some much-needed distance between us. “Do you have a plan for getting to the laboratory?”
Reece stood and redressed. It was difficult every time I saw his uniform. He represented everything I feared and it would take a long time for that terror to dissolve. If it ever would.
“I have a partial plan forming,” Reece said. “A lot will depend on what particular kind of security is at the lab. We’ll have to make it up as we go along.”
That was strangely comforting. I’d never been good with plans, but thinking in the pressure of the moment was something I was used to. After all, you could never predict when the troopers would swoop on the village, every moment it could happen.
“Let’s go then,” I said, heading toward the door.
Reece went first, making sure each corridor was clear before I was allowed to enter. He swept the place completely, making sure it was a safe passageway for me to travel.
When we stepped outside, I was surprised to see it was early morning. Very early morning judging by the way the sun was set low on the horizon. I’d been inside the building for a night, no wonder I was tired.
“Wait.” Reece grabbed my arm, stopping our forward movement. I spun around to face him as his gaze travelled all over me from head to foot. “You look like a human, I think we should be able to blend in.”
“What about my foot?” I held out the limp appendage so he could see how small and twisted it was.
He kneeled down to study it further and I immediately recoiled. I didn’t like people looking at my foot, especially not so close. It was an ugly, dirty thing that deserved no attention at all.
“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you,” he said gently, again reaching for my foot. His hands stopped just short, giving me another chance to step back if I wanted to. “I just need to see if I can fix the way it looks so people won’t notice.”
I’d spent my life trying to do that.
I’d never succeeded.
Maybe it was okay for Reece to try where I had failed. I didn’t step back, allowing him to touch my foot and examine it further. His strong hand gripped it gently, turning it one way and then another. His touch was so light that I barely felt anything.
Reece moved my foot until it pointed straighter and then retied the laces so it was held in that position. It was only slightly more uncomfortable than it normally was. To finish his assessment, he rolled down the hem of my jeans until they reached the floor. My foot was barely visible, let alone noticeable.
He stood again. “That should be enough. Does it feel okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
I tested it by walking a few steps. I still limped, there was going to be no way to fix that. But, standing still, I could pass for a human in a darkened room.
“I can make this work,” I replied. “Thank you.”
“Ah, but your transformation is not yet complete.” He pulled a scarf out of his back pocket and held it up. It was a blue the same color as the sky in the springtime.
He draped the scarf around my head, tying it underneath my chin in the same way I’d seen some of the wealthy ladies wearing them. The silkiness was so soft against my skin. It was the nicest piece of clothing I had ever worn.
He adjusted my hair, tucking it in and pulling it out around my face until it was exactly the way he wanted it. Finally he stood back and surveyed his work. “There, that’s it. Nobody will look at you and think you’re anything other than human.”
“Do you really think so?”
“I do. You’re beautiful, Wren. If they stare it’s only because they’re jealous of you.”
I couldn’t stop the smile spreading across my lips. Nobody besides Rocky had ever called me beautiful before. And even then it was when he was trying to cheer me up.
Reece cleared his throat, breaking the moment between us. A moment I had probably been imagining. “We’d better get going or we’ll hit rush hour. I want to make sure we’re off the subway before the morning commuters start their journey.”
So we were taking the subway.
Another first for me.
I trailed along behind him, clamping my mouth
closed so I didn’t say something that a human wouldn’t and alert people to my clone status. Just because I wore the face of a human, it didn’t make me one.
I had doubts sometimes my Maker was even human.
President Stone was in a category all of her own.
Reece kept up a brisk pace, not letting his own injuries slow him down. I had to take two steps to match every one of his. The plus side was we moved fast and were on the train in no time.
The carriage felt like a cage as it barreled over the city. All the subway tracks were raised to travel above the streets, freeing up space below. The soil was apparently too bad for the tracks to be underground in large tunnels.
There were a handful of people in the carriage with us. I tried not to look at them, lest they look at me in return. I kept my head down and tried not to let the rocking of the train lull me into a false sense of security.
Nobody dared look at Reece. He sat straight up, staring ahead like he owned the place. Nobody would mess with him, not in his trooper uniform. He was untouchable to the general population.
The people started to get off at the stations while we continued to remain seated. We were soon the only people still on the train as we neared the city limits.
Screeching from the brakes penetrated the morning air as the train pulled into the final station. Reece stood and I followed suit, still keeping my head down so I wouldn’t make eye contact with anyone.
Reece stayed close to me, always checking to make sure I was nearby and constantly scanning the area for threats. He never seemed to relax, always in a state of perpetual vigilance. I wondered what he would be like with his friends. Would he relax then? Or would he still feel obligations to protect?
I didn’t dare say a word as we moved out of the subway station and down the steep set of stairs to street level. There were more people around now, those in business suits hurrying toward their various workplaces.
They gave us plenty of space, nobody daring to get too close to the trooper in his imposing uniform. I was more than grateful for the averted gazes. If they weren’t looking at him that meant they weren’t looking at me either.
Doing my part, I concentrated on keeping my limp as minimally noticeable as possible. Reece slowed down slightly so I wasn’t rushing and could make each of my steps deliberate.
I got lost in the number of corners we turned and streets we walked. We were going to Laboratory Delta, the most esteemed clone lab of them all. All I could do was hope Reece knew where he was going because I certainly didn’t.
A large building loomed in the distance, predominant on the landscape as it sat atop a hill. Ringed by several sets of high fences, it looked like a castle in the sky.
A horrible, sickening castle.
It didn’t only create life, it took them too.
My hands instantly started shaking as we approached the end of the road leading up to it. Laboratory Delta was where I was created, Rocky too. A nameless, faceless scientist had extracted DNA threads from President Stone and used them to make me as part of his daily routine.
Then, when he saw my foot and birthmark, that same scientist had cruelly discarded me at the edge of the Defectives’ village.
I was barely a day old.
A tiny, helpless infant.
I swallowed down the rising anger and fear, letting determination take their place. The building wasn’t only my birthplace, it was where they were holding Rocky. I needed to focus on getting him out of there.
“Are you okay?” Reece asked. I hadn’t realized we’d stopped until he’d spoken.
“Yeah,” I replied, hoping it was the truth. “Let’s save Rocky.”
He offered me a small smile as we continued on, reaching the barriers soon after. Reece pulled me off to the side, crouching down so we couldn’t be seen.
I hadn’t seen Laboratory Delta since the day I was born and had no memory of it. Seeing the sprawling fortress, it was far bigger than I could have ever imagined. It consisted of two main buildings, standing side by side with several bridges running between them.
One set of fences was immediately around the buildings. Another set ringed the landscape further down the hill. Troopers patrolled the areas between, each holding guns almost as big as me.
The hope I had felt earlier was shrinking by the minute as I noticed more and more security measures. Patrols, surveillance cameras, traps. It had to be one of the most guarded buildings in Aria.
I looked at Reece, wondering what was going through his mind. His gaze was scanning the area, taking it all in. I doubted much passed him by without scrutiny.
“They really don’t want anyone getting in, do they?” I commented.
Reece sighed. “They don’t want anyone getting out, either.”
The bundle of hope turned into dread.
Surely there couldn’t be all that security just for clones? Makers bought clones like they did clothes. They made an order, supplied their DNA, and received their perfect double in exchange for a large payment.
Clones were a commodity, they didn’t warrant so many security measures. The process was akin to going to the supermarket. It wasn’t a cloak and dagger trade.
“What else do they do in that building?” I asked.
Reece shrugged. “God only knows.”
“How are we going to get in?”
“There’s only one way.”
“Which is?” I prompted when he hesitated.
He stood, taking a deep breath as he came to a decision. “We’re going to walk in through the front door.”
Chapter 18: Reece
Wren wasn’t exactly thrilled with my plan. Her doubt was written all over her face, the same way all her emotions displayed themselves so prominently.
It was pointless trying to sneak into the complex. We could only see half of the security measures they had in place, they kept most of the covert ones a secret from everyone – troopers included. It required the highest of clearances to know all the laboratory’s secrets.
I went over the plan with Wren, doing my best to explain it clearly. The last thing I needed was for her to freak out during the mission and put us both in danger. She needed to be walked through the whole thing, for both our sakes.
The problem with my plan was that it required Wren to trust me. It was asking a lot of her, requesting something I wasn’t sure she was ready to give.
“The sooner we start, the sooner we get it over with,” I finished. The familiar adrenalin I felt whenever I was about to embark on a new mission sparked with me. It pumped through my blood, invigorating and energizing me.
“Isn’t there another way?” she asked, her eyebrows knitted together with concern.
“Security’s too tight. We have no choice except to walk in and pass through the checkpoints legitimately.”
“But they’ll see my face. They’ll know what I am. What if we wait until nightfall and climb the fences?”
“It’s too dangerous,” I replied, wishing I had all the answers for her to put her mind at ease. Unfortunately, what we were about to do was highly risky and there were no guarantees we’d come out the other side unscathed.
Conflict raged in her eyes. She wanted to find her friend but she was terrified of walking into that building voluntarily. She shouldn’t have to do this, it wasn’t fair.
“I can go by myself,” I offered. “You can stay here and wait.”
She immediately shook her head. “Then you won’t have an excuse to be in there. No, I’m going with you or we don’t go at all.”
“Then we need to go now.”
Wren finally relented, coming to the same conclusion as I had. We had one shot at this and we had to get it right. Failure wouldn’t just mean the certain end for her friend, but us too now. It was all or nothing.
I took off the scarf around her head and tucked it into my pocket before we returned to the road, lining up the entrance in our sights. I roughly grabbed Wren’s arm for the benefit of those watching as we came
closer.
She tensed under my grip, internally fighting her instincts to run in the opposite direction. “Are you going to let me go if this works?” she asked quietly.
I stopped, turning to face her while still maintaining my grip. I spoke quietly, trying to make it appear that I was warning her against disobedience. “Of course I am. This is all for show, Wren. I have to play my role, just like you need to as well.”
“It’s… it’s not a trap? You aren’t going to take the reward for me?”
The sadness and worry in her eyes ripped through my heart. I wanted to bundle her up in my arms and soothe away her distress. There was nothing I wanted more than to protect her.
“I’d never do that,” I replied. “I promise. Please trust me, Wren. Please.”
She looked right into my eyes, seemingly right through to my soul. I tried to convey everything in returning her gaze, telling her how special she was to me.
Everything I wasn’t brave enough to speak.
She eventually nodded and turned to face the entrance again. I did the same, holding onto her as I would if she were any other Defective Clone being recalled.
We reached the first security booth and the guard looked us over carefully, his beady eyes searching for a reason to forbid us entry. “What’s your business here?”
“I have a Defective that’s been recalled,” I replied seriously, with a hint of belligerence for having to be there. It was how troopers normally acted when dealing with a Defective Clone. They were the scum we had to control, not an enjoyable task for troopers.
The guard leaned forward to get a better look. “Doesn’t look like a Def.”
“She’s been cleaned up, thought she could hide among humans. Like we wouldn’t notice, right?” I laughed and it wasn’t long before the guard joined in.
There were no funnier jokes in Aria than ones at the Defective Clones’ expense.
Apparently.
The guard finally calmed down long enough to tap a few things into his touchpad screen. “What’s your name?”
Two Beating Hearts Page 18
